Chapter 29: Sun and Cold
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Three days later, Aleksei and Jordan awoke to bright blue, sunny skies, and snow flurries that defied the weatherman's logic.
"Aleksei, how can it be sunny and snowing at the same time?" Jordan pondered as she watched the sparkling snowflakes float through air that looked like it belonged to a summer vacation from a window. "I tell you, it pays to be a weatherman. That's got to be the only job that you can be wrong all the time, make big bucks and never worry about getting canned. What a racket," she complained, casting a final glance out the window, a sudden feeling of foreboding rushing through her causing her to shiver and cross her arms across her chest.
"Cold?" Aleksei asked, crossing the room and wrapping her in his arms, his cheek resting on the top of her head.
"No, just a shiver," Jordan answered softly, snuggling closer to Aleksei's heat.
"You're never cold. "
"I didn't say I was cold. I said it was a shiver."
"Maybe someone walked across your grave," Aleksei teased, frowning when she pulled from his arms, her eyes darkening in fear.
"Aleksei, don't say such things, even teasingly. You're tempting fate and it's more powerful than both of us!" Jordan demanded, her voice, and body, shaking with fear, her nails digging into his forearms. "Take it back. Take back your comment now!" She demanded.
"Jordan, take it easy..."
"Take it back, Aleksei. NOW!"
"Okay, okay. I didn't mean it," Aleksei relented shaking his head in puzzlement as he viewed for the first time how superstitious his partner was. Funny how you could know someone for so long and still discover new, and sometimes unusual, things about a person. "Do you think that will satisfy the fates?" he asked, semi-seriously.
"We can only hope it will. Time should tell us pretty soon," Jordan whispered, wishing and praying the feeling of foreboding that still chilled her would vanish.
"You don't really believe in all that mumbo-jumbo do you?" Aleksei asked, her expression giving him her answer immediately. "Obviously you do," he concluded.
"How can you not?" Jordan questioned sharply.
"Easy," Aleksei stated firmly. "You make your own fate. Show me where everything is written in stone and I'll believe we have no actual control over our destinies. Can you? Is there such a place? Of course not, because we aren't totally powerless to some greater force. The only thing we're powerless against are our own weaknesses and believe me, when I say, nothing - NOTHING - will come between you and I. We're partners - on and off the ice - and nothing can, or will, change that. Got it?" Aleksei demanded, pulling her into his crushing embrace.
Jordan could feel his strength seeping into her chilled body, warming her, tempting her to believe that perhaps his beliefs weren't so far fetched. Maybe together they could determine their own fate. Perhaps he was more powerful than the demons that haunted her. Maybe her nightmare had been just that, nothing more than a bad dream and not a brief glimpse into the future. Snuggling deeper into his embrace, she nodded, agreeing. "Got it."
"Good!" Aleksei breathed in relief, kissing her forehead and tucking her head back under his chin. "Then suppose we go find our way into town, grab breakfast, and see if we can't buy something special to remind us of our brief escape from Whittaker," He suggested.
"Sounds good to me. I'll be ready in less than ten minutes," Jordan stated.
"Is that ten minutes Earth time?" Aleksei called to Jordan's retreating form, appreciating the view of her southern exposure.
"Funny, Rocmanov," she called back.
The day it takes her ten minutes to get ready is the day the world comes to an end, Aleksei jokingly mumbled to himself, filling his pockets with his car keys and wallet, then shivering as a chill ran through his body. Casting a quick glance about him, he quickly took his comment back, maybe it wasn't good to tempt fate too often. When Jordan returned five minutes later, another chill surged through Aleksei.
"See, I told you, less than ten minutes!" Jordan quipped, placing a quick kiss to his cheek and then slipping into the jacket he held. His odd expression stopped her. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"You're sure?"
"Yeah. I'm just surprised you were ready so fast. Typically, you're at least ten minutes longer than you say you'll be."
"Well, I guess today isn't a typical day," Jordan quipped.
"If it isn't going to be a typical day, then what kind of day is it going to be?" Aleksei pondered.
Jordan smiled over her shoulder at him, her eyes so full of love it made his heart overflow with emotion and race at the same time. "A day more special than yesterday was but not as special as our day together will be. A day, I know, I will remember for the rest of my life."
Aleksei's smile was boyishly charming and wickedly sensual at once, a bright flame burning brightly in the center of his deep ebony eyes. "Talk about performance anxiety. How can I be expected to make this day one you'll remember your entire life?" he asked mysteriously.
"That's your problem, not mine, Rocmanov," Jordan replied flippantly.
"Gee, thanks. Nothing like making things easy for me. I suppose I'll just have to be my usual wonderful self," Aleksei replied arrogantly. "No sweat."
Jordan laughed at his egotistical antics. "Tell me, Rocmanov. How does that very large ego of yours fit into that semi-large body of yours?"
"Semi-large?" Aleksei gasped in feigned horror, pulling her into his arms and ravaging her neck with nipping bites and heated kisses, his hips pressing wantonly against her own, his rising passion obvious.
Jordan's laughter turned to whimpers of pleasure, her mouth seeking his, finding, sipping, and devouring, until they pulled apart to catch their breaths. "What was the question?" Jordan asked dreamily.
"Semi-large," Aleksei offered.
"Oh yes. I suppose, depending on ones interpretation of size, your body could be considered on the large size," she offered, gasping when he pushed against her hips, his passion for her blatantly obvious. "Definitely large!" she decided, her sharp nails digging into his jeans when she grasped his hips and pulled him back to her, moving against the source of his passionate heat.
"Jordan..." he moaned, his mouth capturing hers in one final devouring kiss before he pushed away from her. "We were on our way out, remember?"
"What? ...Oh, right," Jordan mumbled breathlessly, struggling back to sanity and grabbing her purse off the small table by the door, her mind still dizzy from Aleksei's siege upon her senses.
"Got everything?" Aleksei asked a final time, zipping up his jacket and checking his pockets for his gloves, there as expected.
"As far as I can tell. Anything I'm missing and can't live without, I'll just have to buy," Jordan answered lightly, smiling at Aleksei's show of gallantry as he held the door for her.
"Then we're out of here!" he stated, ushering her out and closing the door behind them.
The cellular phone lay on the counter; forgotten, a faint shadow in the shifting light that streamed through the windows of the cottage, it's shape becoming ominous as the sky darkened to a deeper gray.
Text Copyright © 2000 by Constance E. Moynihan
